U.S. shooters feel pinch as ammo costs soar

TOMBSTONE, Ariz (Reuters) - Gunslinger Bob Krueger blasts
away at his outlaw rivals at a tourist show in this storied Old
West town, although rising ammo costs may force him to choose
his shots.

Krueger and his gnarly band of pistoleros are among
millions of shooters, hunters and even lawmen across the United
States feeling the pinch as sky-high metals prices and demand
from wars abroad are driving up the price of bullets.

Ammo prices for many popular guns have more than tripled in
the last three years, driven in large part by surging demand
for metals in rapidly industrializing China.

As the Asian giant becomes wealthier, millions of tons of
copper, lead and zinc, which are also used to make bullets and
brass shell-casings, are being snapped up.

Shooters, gun dealers and sheriffs say the impact has been
further aggravated by competition for limited ammo stocks with
the U.S. military, currently fighting wars on two fronts in
Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Everybody is feeling it," said Krueger, a Stetson wearing
cowboy whose show blasts through hundreds of rounds of blank
ammo each week at Six Gun City in Tombstone.

"If things get bad enough, we may all just get one bullet
each," he said, to laughter from his grizzled buddies.